The Riddle House
by Hermione Starise
Summary: Sequel to Wraith Isenguard. Ron and Hermione are engaged and lving in their dream home. But what dark secrets lie in wait for them and what horrors does the grand mansion house. And why. oh why does Harry find it so familier?
1. Prologue

AN- The sequel to Wraith Isenguard. The Author's note in the next chapter explains more clearly. * Prologue, a letter sent to Hermione Granger. *  
  
Dear Miss Granger, You do not know who I am, but I am writing this letter with the best of intentions. Please be warned of the Jacob's house. It is not all it seems! Yours Faithfully, X2  
  
AN- Incredibly short. I know! But the first chapter's done- READ ON! And don't forget to review! 


	2. Chapter 1: Moving In

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. * AN- Set a year after Wraith Isenguard. Ron and Hermione aren't married, yet. Yey! I was walking down the street that was voted the best street in Britain today. Grey Street Newcastle! Yippee! Geordies rock! Especially when Newcastle United beat Sunderland 2-0. I know it's only football! Or Soccer depending where you live, but I mean a derby game like that! Whoa! Ok, I'll calm down. I'm not usually into football (Soccer).  
  
AN2- I wrote that so long ago! Anyway sorry that it has taken me so long to write this- things kept getting in the way. Like the booking of preview tickets to Chamber of Secrets! Yay! * It was a bright, clear and crisp October morning. A young woman rushed through the grounds of the Auror's Institute. She was pretty, with an English-rose sort of look about her. Her skin was creamy and smooth with a healthy rosy look in her cheeks. Her waist length brown hair was worn in a braid that hung down her shoulder, a few curls escaped to frame her face. Her coffee-brown eyes were large and crowned by long luxurious dark eyelashes. She was fairly tall and slim.  
  
Hermione Granger had many reasons to be excited. One of them was that she was engaged and due to be married, in December. Another was that she was moving into a beautiful Tudor manor house with her fiancée the next day. But this was not her reason for rushing through the grounds at break neck speed, no indeed; there was another reason for her excitement.  
  
She was so caught up in her exhilaration that she bumped right into a trainee auror.  
  
"Sorry!" She said smiling brightly.  
  
The girl who she had bumped into scowled. The girl was taller than Hermione, a lot taller, and skinny. Hermione registered the girl's exotic appearance; she was beautiful and yet had a strange harshness about her. She had lovely olive skin, thick black hair that hung down as far as Hermione's and had a natural shine to it. Her eyes were slightly disturbing; they were grey, blue and purple all at the same time.  
  
"Don't mind Kalia. She's a little temperamental." Another trainee, Hermione gasped out load when she saw him. He was obviously the girl's twin.  
  
(AN- Kalia pronounced, Kay-li-a)  
  
"Oh." Was all Hermione could manage. The boy however grinned, flirtatiously.  
  
"I know; we are a little overwhelming aren't we!" He said.  
  
"Pare!" A voice boomed, a very familiar voice. It was Hermione's turn to grin, triumphantly rather than flirtatiously though.  
  
"What?" The twins asked.  
  
"Kellum Pare!" A very familiar voice said and Hermione grinned, "Stop flirting with my fiancée and get back to work!"  
  
Kellum Pare looked very sheepish as he said, "Yes sir!"  
  
Hermione looked up to find Ron walking towards her, looking curious.  
  
"Why are you over here?" He asked.  
  
"OH Ron! I've done it! And I'm not drained! I came to tell you!" She said excitedly.  
  
"Merlin's Protection Spell?" Ron asked stunned.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Wow 'Mione! That's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, sweeping her into a hug and kissing her rather hurriedly. This she would have enjoyed if it were not for the fact that she was extremely conscious of the group of trainees staring and Kalia Pare glaring.  
  
"Look I have to go and tell the boss. I'll see you tonight." Hermione said, knowing that her face must have been as red as a beetroot.  
  
"Ok, bye!" He said, turning back to the astounded group of trainees.  
  
*  
  
The next morning was a flurry of activity. Although the new furniture had already been installed in the house and the old furniture sold, there was still an awful lot of possession transporting and anxious book packing to be done.  
  
By half twelve, Hermione and Ron had handed over the keys to the old flat and stood outside with their best friends, Eilonwy and Harry.  
  
"Come on! I can't wait to see it!" Eilonwy squealed.  
  
Hermione laughed, Harry and Eilonwy had only just come back from a holiday in Eilonwy's kingdom, Herolia. Eilonwy was the Princess there; she was to give her, her full title, the Second Princess Eilonwy Restacia Morgana third in line for the throne of Herolia. She usually hated going hoe- her parents would go on and on at her about how she was abusing her royalty by working in the human world but somehow, being accompanied by Harry her new boyfriend had made it a lot more bearable.  
  
Harry of course was none other than the great Harry Potter. The boy who lived!  
  
They apparated together the sensation of apparition, of not knowing if you had been successful passed quickly. When the four of them appeared with a pop they stood outside the renovated manor house.  
  
"It's beautiful!" Eilonwy breathed.  
  
"I know, come on! Come inside!" Hermione said and led them all through to the kitchen.  
  
It was a large, spacious room. It may have looked very clinical and unfriendly where it not for the half packed boxes that lay on the floor or the brightly coloured table cloth that Hermione had flung over the large round wooden table. The great fireplace looked sad and unused when they first entered the room, but with a flick of his wand, Ron brought fire to it- light- and warmth.  
  
When they were seated and held steaming mugs of tea in their hands, Eilonwy said:  
  
"Who would have thought? Jacob had such a nice house here and it was just going to rot!"  
  
"I know," Hermione replied quietly. Her experiences with the evil vampire, who had gained her trust, were by no means expelled from her mind, which made her wonder whether or not moving into his house was a good idea. But it was so beautiful and anyway the house itself seemed to have a strange hold over her.  
  
They explored the house together. The light faded, early- a signal that winter was growing ever closer.  
  
"We better go back home Harry." Eilonwy said, as they stood in the library room. Harry stood staring out of the window, "Are you all right?" Eilonwy asked, noticing the vacant but alarmed expression on his face.  
  
"Yes." Harry replied.  
  
"Are you sure mate? You look as if you've seen a ghost!" Ron asked.  
  
"It's just.. No they must all look the same. But still this house. everything is so familiar."  
  
Eilonwy looked at him alarmed. Ron and Hermione looked at each other- what was their friend talking about?  
  
"Come on E, we better go," Harry said, drawing the attention away from himself.  
  
When they had gone, Hermione turned to Ron, worried.  
  
"Harry hasn't talked like that in a long time." She started.  
  
"I know. it's strange, but his voice, his expressions.. Well.." Ron trailed off.  
  
"Yes?" Hermione pressed.  
  
"It was just like when he used to talk about you-know..ok-Voldemort!"  
  
Hermione gasped. She felt in her jeans pocket for something she had received that morning. She handed Ron the crumpled piece of paper, who read it and paled.  
  
"What's this, who is X2?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know." Hermione replied, "But it's starting to get scary!" *  
  
AN- I have been helping my friends set up a Hogwarts RPG, which had kept me busy and stopped me from getting on with this. About the RPG- if you're interested in that sort of stuff- please join ours, it's simple but well run- the URL is:  
  
http://disc.server.com/Indices/198244.html 


	3. Chapter 2: Dreams and Warnings

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. * Chapter Two: Dreams and Warnings * AN- Sorry I haven't written any of this for ages! Yet here's the 2nd chapter- I just remembered they have a dog so excuse me if Pippin's return is rather random!  
  
An2- THIS IS THE REAL CHAPTER 2!!!! Thanks for pointing it out Mione Weasley; I really appreciate it- I really mustn't post chapters when I'm too tired to concentrate! Lol. Anyway here goes.  
  
*  
  
Hermione was standing in the large sitting room of the new house. But the new furniture had gone and the walls were stripped bare of the wall paper that she had picked out. The hearth didn't look as if there had been a fire in it for years and the ground was cold and dirty. What had happened to the carpet? The glass in the windows was cracked and the warm red curtains that she had chosen were not there. Wind came into the room and rattled the half broken door- hadn't the builders fixed that?  
  
Hermione looked around her in distress. The room- it seemed so dead when only hours before it had seemed so alive and cosy. What had happened? She crossed the room frantically searching for a sign- any sign that related to the work and decoration that had been put into the room. There was nothing familiar. The empty wooden boxes and the sagging old arm chair were not from her time there at all.  
  
"Ron!" She called out but even her own voice sounded alien in this house which was so much like her own and then so different.  
  
"He's not here." A voice said from nowhere. The voice was malignant, hollow and unfeeling, she shudder and suppressed a scream.  
  
"Where is he then?" She asked her voice barely above a whisper.  
  
"No, the question is: where are you?"  
  
*  
  
Hermione woke up with a start and the words- where are you? - ringing in her ears. She opened her eyes to find it was still dark but and a glance at the clock on the wall told her it was only three o'clock.  
  
She turned to find Ron asleep next to her- warm and solid as ever. She sighed with relief and sunk back down into the warmth of her covers. But she could not sleep again- the dream with its voice- so evil- kept haunting her and every time she closed her eyes she saw the empty room.  
  
Hours later she finally fell into a troubled slumber and slept through until morning.  
  
*  
  
"Hermione?" Ron asked, as he watched his fiancée stared distantly out of the window in their kitchen.  
  
"What?" She asked snapping back down to Earth.  
  
"You seem very distant that's all. We don't have to go to my parents today if you don't want to."  
  
It was their day off and they had been invited to the Burrow for the day.  
  
She laughed amused, "No! I love going to the burrow. You know I do! I just didn't sleep well that's all."  
  
"All?" Ron asked raising a sceptical eyebrow.  
  
"I just had a weird nightmare. That's all; it's probably just sleeping in a new place." She said.  
  
"Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked moving over to her to slip his arms around her waits- she was still so thin!  
  
"It was just a dream!" She said, looking up to him her brown eyes as penetrating as ever.  
  
"Still, you know I wouldn't have minded, if you were upset..." He said.  
  
"I wasn't!" She protested.  
  
"If you were."  
  
"I wasn't," she whispered softly.  
  
"Good." He said, leaning down and kissed her, slowly, carefully and tenderly. She twisted round to snake her arms around his neck and returned the kiss.  
  
From where he was still half a sleep in his basket- Pippin- the golden retriever, whined wondering where his breakfast was.  
  
Hermione broke away giggling, "Listen to him! He knows that he won't get any food if we start this."  
  
"Let him whine," Ron said pulling her back to him for another kiss.  
  
It might have gone further but Hermione- her sense of duty kicking in as usual pulled away from him and said, "We haven't got time. Your mum's expecting us there soon. And poor Pip is starving"  
  
He smiled regretfully tucking a soft curl behind her ear.  
  
"Correct as always," He said fondly, "I'll just go and get a shower then we can go. Ok?"  
  
"Ok, that is if I haven't already used all of the hot water."  
  
He laughed. "I'll just have to suffer with cold water if you have."  
  
"Suffer eh?" She asked.  
  
"Yes. Suffer." He replied chuckling.  
  
"I'll feed Pip- your mum won't mind if we bring him along- will she?" Hermione asked.  
  
"No, Mum loves him." Ron replied.  
  
Hurry up then!" Hermione said.  
  
"Ok, Ok, I'm going!"  
  
*  
  
An hour later they were knocking on the burrow door. Molly Weasley opened the door, her arms full of grandchildren.  
  
Little Mark Weasley ran forward and clamped him arms around Ron's long legs shouting  
  
"Uncle Ronnie!"  
  
"Molly! What a handful!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
Molly chuckled, "Yes, it's their baby sitter's day off so Percy asked me to look after them while he and Penny are at work. Come on in,"  
  
They followed Molly and her hoard of grandchildren into the living room where Mr Weasley sat with the youngest of Percy's children five month old Susie in his arms.  
  
Emma and Charlotte, the twins moved away from their grandmother and went back to where they had set up a dolls tea party, Pippin, following, taking a strange interest in the dolls for a golden retriever. Ron came in with little Mark clinging onto his hand.  
  
"Hello there," Arthur greeted the couple that had just arrived. "Come to give us a hand with this lot?"  
  
"And I thought it was my day off!" Ron chuckled.  
  
"Uncle Ronnie! Uncle Ronnie! Come and play with my trains." Mark said, dragging Ron off to the corner of the room where he had set up the train track that had been gradually getting larger since Christmas. Reminded of that day Hermione smiled- it had been when Ron proposed to her.  
  
"They get on well together don't they?" Molly said, misreading Hermione's thoughts.  
  
Hermione grinned, it was true, they did, "Yeah," She said, not bothering to put Molly right.  
  
"And how are you little Susie?" Hermione asked the enfant perched on her grandfather's knees offering her a hand.  
  
The baby blinked at her and clasped Hermione's finger with a small but strong hand. Hermione laughed.  
  
"Strong aren't you?" She said.  
  
Susie responded by gurgling happily. Once Hermione's finger was free of Susie's iron grip and her attention diverted by the rattle that Arthur had given her, Hermione went into the kitchen where Molly was pottering about as usual.  
  
"You couldn't give me a hand with chopping those onions, could you my dear?" Molly asked, pointing to some onions that lay in wait next to a vegetable knife on a wooden chopping block.  
  
"Doing things the muggle way?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Yes, it helps keep me sane in my old age!" She replied.  
  
Hermione laughed, "If you can say coped with as much family as you did, then I reckon you're entitled to a little bit of madness."  
  
"You may be right there!" Molly said.  
  
"Little Susie's adorable." Hermione mused as she chopped the onions.  
  
"Adorable enough to make you want your own?" Molly asked, Hermione noticed the conspiratorial smile on the older woman's face. Hermione just laughed in response, best to avoid those sorts of questions.  
  
"We really need to get a move on with planning the wedding," Hermione said.  
  
"Yes!" Molly agreed, "December isn't that far away!"  
  
"Not at all!" Hermione said, "I've still got a lot to sort out as well!"  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Well, we already have the Wizarding Chapel booked for the eleventh and we have a honeymoon booked to New Zealand for three weeks. But that's about it!"  
  
Molly shrieked horrified, "Only that much! Dear me, you really need to get a move on!  
  
"I know." Hermione replied quietly.  
  
Suddenly it dawned on Molly why Hermione was so behind with her wedding preparation.  
  
"Oh dear me!" Molly said her face softening into a sympathetic smile, "I'm not used to getting involved in the boys' weddings. The girl's mother usually gets to do it all- they want to."  
  
Hermione nodded sadly.  
  
"I'm sorry! I just didn't think without your own mother and all!"  
  
"It's ok," Hermione said, "But I'm at a loss as to what to do! Could you help me?"  
  
Hermione knew that she was lying, she would have managed on her own but she knew that Molly would be pleased to be asked- and indeed she was right. Molly's face flushed with pleasure as she replied:  
  
"Of course me dear! I'd love to!" Molly replied beaming.  
  
So- as soon as the onions where peeled the two women sat down at the old wooden table and started making plans.  
  
*  
  
Ron was fully engrossed in the game of 'Junior Quidditch' that he was playing with Mark, Charlotte and Emma: so much so that he hardly noticed when Hermione called him from the house.  
  
"Ron!" She called, "Ron!"  
  
When finally she had his attention, he said to the children: "Just you carry on playing nicely now. I've just got to go and see Auntie 'Mione."  
  
He set down his old broomstick and walked down to his fiancée.  
  
"What is it?" He asked.  
  
She looked vaguely worried as she said, "It's Remus, and he's in the fire waiting to speak to you."  
  
"Doesn't sound good," Ron muttered, "Can you keep an eye on these three?"  
  
"Yeah, of course." She said, as he entered the house.  
  
Remus' worried face was in the fire, "There's an emergency."  
  
"What is it?" Ron asked, suddenly feeling an impending doom oppress him.  
  
"You'll have to come in. I'll explain then!" Remus said disappearing.  
  
Ron shook his head, Hermione would be disappointed. He went back outside to where she was entertaining the children.  
  
"You'll have to go in kids, Gran says tea's nearly ready." He lied- he'd only just smelt the beef casserole.  
  
The three-seeming to pick up the fact that there was something wrong headed back up to house.  
  
"What is it?" Hermione asked, her face worried.  
  
He reached down to rub her cheek, "Oh I'm so sorry," He said, "I've got to go in. Remus just said, there's an emergency and left it at that." Sighing she nodded, "Ok, I'll just stay here then and meet you back at home tonight. Ok?"  
  
"Yeah. See you later then." He said leaning down to kiss her swiftly before apparating with a pop.  
  
* It was late when Ron finally turned the key in the door and entered his new house once more.  
  
Coming into the sitting room he found Hermione still up- wrapped in a dressing gown with her curls all dishevelled-looking anxious and pale.  
  
"Ron!"" She cried leaping up to embrace him.  
  
"I was so worried, you've been ages! I didn't know what to think!"  
  
"It's ok," He soothes hr stroking her hair. "We've just had some bad news."  
  
"And?" She pressed.  
  
"Well you know that we have that monitor going, the one that picks up any activity that is Voldemort related. We get a lot of relics being discovered- you know like the diary? Well anyway it picked up a great surge of energy."  
  
"But he can't be back! We know that he's gone for good." Hermione said.  
  
"I know. But we still have to deal with it. Don't worry, it's probably nothing," He said.  
  
She looked up at him, her eyes trusting yet not convinced, "I had another letter." She said.  
  
"What? Let me see!" He said worried.  
  
She showed him the scarp of paper. The words were simple.  
  
Dear Doctor Granger, It has started, Yours sincerely, X2  
  
Ron felt a shiver run down his spine.  
  
"Is it related to the energy surge?" She asked.  
  
"I don't know," He replied. "I just don't know."  
  
What he didn't tell her- not wanting to frighten her, was that the energy surge had come from the area they were living in. The area around their new home.  
  
OOC- What do you think? Please review. 


End file.
